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Main References from this web site or from any of the information services sponsored by AoA to any non-governmental entity, product, service or information does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the Administration on Aging or any of its employees. AoA is not responsible for the contents of any "off-site" web pages referenced from this server. Although our page includes links to sites including or referencing good collections of information, AoA does not endorse ANY specific products or services provided by public or private organizations. By using this site, the user takes full responsibility for any use of these links. return to top of page return to top of page Feedback Form If you have questions about Senior Medicare Patrols programs, policies, or where to find information on the web site please refer to the Contact Information. Section 508 The Senior Medicare Patrols web site is 508 compliant to help better serve our disabled patrons. Originally established in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508 is a federal standard that prohibits government agencies from buying, developing, maintaining or using electronic and information technology that is inaccessible to people with disabilities. Section 508 also requires that individuals with disabilities who are members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal department or agency, have access to and use of information comparable to that of non-disabled individuals. We are proud of our site and want to make the user experience more enjoyable. This site is Bobby Approved. This icon demonstrates that the Senior Medicare and Medicaid Patrols web site is committed to accessibility for people with disabilities. General information about Section 508 and answers to frequently asked questions are available at the following links:. Accessibility to the Administration on Aging Web Site http://www.aoa.gov/access/default.htm Resources to Promote Accessibility of Web Sites to Persons with Disabilities http://www.aoa.gov/webresources/access.html Federal IT Accessibility Website http://www.section508.gov Validation and Accessibility Resources There are several utilities that can be used to validate or enhance the accessibility of a Website: Bobby is a widely used validation tool that will analyze Web pages for accessibility issues and organize potential problem areas according to priority. It is available as a downloadable program or as a Web form. A site that meets all of Bobby's standards can earn "Bobby certification," but this does not necessarily mean that it has met all of the standards outlined in Section 508. There are a handful of rare but important accessibility issues that are not recognized by Bobby, so thorough examination of the site is still necessary. WAVE is another tool that is useful for validating a Web page's accessibility. WAVE will also demonstrate the output order of a page's tables as they are translated and read. Lynx is a line-mode browser that will translate Web pages into text. You can open a page using this browser, or use a free Lynx Viewer that will help visualize how a page's tables might look in the Lynx browser. JAWS is a special software application that interfaces with a user's operating system, office applications, and Web browsers. It uses a voice synthesizer to communicate the contents of a computer screen through a PC's sound card and speakers. It also outputs to refreshable Braille displays. Betsie is a server-side solution for providing on-the-fly text versions of Web pages. It has some limitations, but is a good text reader enhancement that will automatically strip out content that is useless and confusing to accessible technologies. VisCheck is a special utility designed to demonstrate how a person with a common color vision deficit would see a particular Web page. The NIST Web Metrics project provides tools and techniques to facilitate evaluation of the usability of Web sites. The W3C, an organization responsible for establishing Web standards and practices, has developed its own Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). While similar to those standards listed in Section 508, the W3C standards are slightly different in interpretation and are not enforced by law like Section 508 is. Nonetheless, a useful checklist for W3C Web Content Accessibility is available to help determine how accessible a site is to people with disabilities. |
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Last Updated: 9/9/2004 | report issues regarding this page return to top of page |
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